Highlights
- Manchester, NH remains in the top spot on the hottest housing markets list in April, holding the top spot for the 10th time in the last year.
- The top 20 hottest markets are spread out across 13 states, with multiple metros in North Carolina, Indiana, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Tennessee.
- As prices soar to new heights nationwide, affordability remains a key feature of April’s hottest markets with 12 markets below the national median listing price.
- There are no California markets on this month’s list for the first time in the data’s history.
- The Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL metro area again saw the largest increase in its Hotness ranking among larger metros compared to last year, securing its highest hotness ranking (104th) for any April on record (available data going back to 2016).
Manchester, NH remained in the top spot on the hottest housing markets list in April. This area originally topped the list back in August 2020, and has held the number one spot a total of 14 times. Manchester first cracked into the top 20 in May 2018, and has remained in the top 2 for the last year.
Realtor.com’s Market Hotness rankings take into account two aspects of the housing market: 1) market demand, as measured by unique viewers per property on Realtor.com, and 2) the pace of the market as measured by the number of days a listing remains active on Realtor.com.
Focus on Affordability Remains
After holding 5 spots on the hottest markets list in January, California metros are on the decline once again with no metros on the list in April. This is the first month in the data’s history (going back to 2016) in which no California markets are in the top 20 hottest markets. These pricey California markets have been replaced with more affordable markets in the South, Northeast and Midwest. Overall, 12 of April’s hottest markets had median listing prices below the national median. The average listing price for the 20 hottest markets was $376,000 in April 2022, 11.5% lower than the national median, and 23.6% lower than March’s average. Overall, 13 states were represented on our list of top 20 hottest housing markets in April, indicating diversified demand as affordability becomes harder to come by.
North Carolina boasted 4 markets on the list in April (Burlington, Raleigh, Greenville and Durham-Chapel Hill), the most of any state. Rounding out the southern region with these North Carolina locales was Johnson City, TN and Kingsport-Bristol, TN. Northeastern markets have returned to the list with gusto as spring arrives, holding 8 spots, the most of any April on record. The Midwest held 5 markets on the list, and the West had just 1 (Billings, MT).
The states featured in our top 20 list this month are: Connecticut, Indiana, Massachusetts, Maine, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, New York, New Hampshire, Ohio, Tennessee, Vermont and Wisconsin.
Our Hottest Housing Markets, by design, are the areas where homes sell fastest and have lots of potential buyers checking out each listing. As a group, Realtor.com’s 20 Hottest Housing Markets received 1.3 to 3.5 times the number of viewers per home for sale compared to the national rate. These markets are seeing homes-for-sale move up to 26 days more quickly than the typical property in the United States.
The median national home price for active listings reached a new high of $425,000 in April, up 14.2% year-on-year. Most of April’s hottest markets are relatively affordable Midwest, Southern, and Northeast markets. The hottest markets saw median listing prices reach $376,000 in April—11.5% lower, on average, than the national median of $425,000. Notably, the most expensive markets on the list were the Portland-South Portland, ME and Billings, MT markets, where median listing prices were $525,000 and $523,000, respectively. These markets were just over a third the price of March’s most expensive market, representing a big shift away from expensive California markets.
April 2022 – Top 20 Hottest Housing Markets
| Hottest Metros | Hotness Rank | Hotness Rank YoY | Viewers per Property vs US | Median Days On Market | Days on Market YoY | Median Listing Price If Active Within Period |
| Manchester-Nashua, N.H. | 1 | 0 | 2.9 | 8 | -1 | $449,900 |
| Concord, N.H. | 2 | 0 | 3.5 | 14 | -2 | $439,000 |
| Burlington, N.C. | 3 | 15 | 2.2 | 13 | -16 | $360,000 |
| Portland-South Portland, Maine | 4 | -1 | 2.2 | 15 | -3 | $525,000 |
| Elkhart-Goshen, Ind. | 5 | 1 | 1.9 | 11 | -5 | $249,900 |
| La Crosse-Onalaska, Wis.-Minn. | 6 | 8 | 2.3 | 16 | -8 | $340,000 |
| Burlington-South Burlington, Vt. | 7 | 24 | 2.1 | 17 | -6 | $433,000 |
| Worcester, Mass.-Conn. | 8 | 3 | 1.7 | 14 | -8 | $449,000 |
| Rochester, N.Y. | 9 | 0 | 1.5 | 10 | -5 | $199,999 |
| Springfield, Mass. | 10 | 7 | 1.7 | 17 | -6 | $355,000 |
| Columbus, Ohio | 11 | -3 | 1.5 | 13 | -3 | $325,000 |
| Kingsport-Bristol-Bristol, Tenn.-Va. | 12 | 56 | 2.7 | 24 | -17 | $289,000 |
| Billings, Mont. | 13 | 21 | 1.7 | 22 | -11 | $523,000 |
| Raleigh, N.C. | 14 | 19 | 1.3 | 9 | -14 | $475,000 |
| Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, Conn. | 15 | 132 | 1.5 | 20 | -12 | $349,999 |
| Johnson City, Tenn. | 16 | 0 | 3.1 | 25 | -4 | $364,900 |
| Greenville, N.C. | 17 | 109 | 2 | 24 | -20 | $278,000 |
| Columbia, Mo. | 18 | 6 | 1.3 | 15 | -8 | $349,000 |
| Fort Wayne, Ind. | 19 | 28 | 1.7 | 24 | -13 | $270,000 |
| Durham-Chapel Hill, N.C. | 20 | 33 | 1.3 | 16 | -16 | $495,000 |
Affordability Rules in the Top Hottest Markets
For the first time since November 2021, the average median listing price of the hottest markets is lower than the national median as more than half of the 20 hottest markets fall below this threshold. The Manchester-Nashua, NH metro area has been a mainstay in the top 20 hottest markets since early 2019. Manchester-Nashua, along with the number 2 market, neighboring Concord, NH, offer short commutes and relative affordability compared to nearby Boston. The Boston metro area saw median home prices reach $759,000 in April 2022, 68.7% and 72.9% higher than the neighboring Manchester-Nashua and Concord, NH metros where prices reached $449,900 and $439,000, respectively. Homes in red-hot Manchester-Nashua spent just 8 days on the market in April, nearly a month less than the national average. Homes in Concord typically spent 14 days on the market, just shy of three weeks less than the typical US home.
For the first time in the data history, no California metros are on the hottest markets list. There was just one Western market on the list at all, tying August 2021 for the lowest Western market representation in the data’s history. Last month (March), the most expensive market on the list was Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA where the median listing price was $1,498,000, 170% more expensive than March’s national median. In April, however, the most expensive metro on the list was Portland, ME where prices reached $525,000 in April, just 23.5% higher than the national median. By comparison, the most expensive hot market in April 2021 (one year earlier) was priced 43.5% higher than the national median. Buyers are looking for buying opportunities in less pricey markets as still-climbing prices coupled with rising interest rates have taken a toll on their confidence and their budget. On average, April’s hottest markets saw prices grow 15.0% year-over-year, lagging national price growth by 2.2 percentage points.
The most affordable market on April’s list was Rochester, NY, where the median home price was $200,000, less than half of the national median. The midwestern locales of Elkhart-Goshen, IN and Fort Wayne, IN, which held the 5th and 19th spots on the list, were also among the most affordable hot markets. These metros boasted median listing prices of $249,900 in Elkhart-Goshen and $270,000 in Fort Wayne, both significantly less expensive than the national median, despite price growth in the last year.
Most Improved Large Markets
Larger urban markets continue to cool down in the rankings, with the largest 40 markets across the country dropping by 9 spots, on average, since April 2021.
Of the largest 40 metros, the most-improved housing markets were all in the South: Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL (+97 spots); Virginia Beach, VA (+35 spots); Charlotte-Concord, SC (+28 spots); Tampa-St. Petersburg, FL (+27 spots) and Nashville-Davidson, TN (+26 spots).
After struggling early in the days of the pandemic, the Orlando, FL housing market is now seeing real estate sell faster and garner more interest, earning it the position of fastest-rising large market on our list for the ninth month in a row. In the first quarter of 2022, this metro received the most attention from viewers in the Miami, FL, New York, NY and Washington D.C. metro areas. In April, the Orlando area rose 97 spots in hotness rank compared to last year. The metro area clocked in as the 104th hottest metro in the US, the highest ranking Orlando has seen in April in the available data (going back to 2016). The typical Orlando home spent 32 days on market, tied with March 2022 for the shortest time on record for the metro. The number of viewers per property in Orlando dropped 2.3% year-over-year in April, but the metro still saw 1.2 times the numbers of viewers as was typical for a US property.
On the supply side, the five most-improved large markets saw inventory move an average 9 days more quickly than last year. In comparison, the largest 40 markets overall saw properties spend 6 days fewer on the market than last year, on average. The typical property spent 22 days on the market in the most-improved metros, 12 days less than the national norm.
Markets Seeing the Largest Jump in Rankings (April 2022)
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